30 Day Blog Challenge – Day 7

Movies movies movies.

I didn’t watch a lot of movies growing up . I was always too busy doing other things.

But as of late, I have discovered somer really good ones.

The transporter series? Awesome.

Mr. Roberts? Dr. Strangelove? Crazy good films that are humorous in such an innocent way. More or less.

Well, while I was thinking about this post, I had to narrow my selections down to three films.

Three movies that I enjoy for completely different reasons each. So, here they are. Garen’s top three favorite films. (Oh yeah, click the posters to see their page on IMDB).

#3 Operation Petticoat

This was the first of the movies I discovered from the 50s. WOW! Great acting, good storyline, plenty or re-playabilibty. This movie was jsut fun to watch. I really enjoyed it. Right down to the pink submarine.

 

#2 The Abyss.

Long before he ever made Avatar, James Cameron made the abyss. It was filmed in a flooded nuclear cooling tower over the course of 9 months. Not one person on the crew said they would ever consider returning for a second film. It was over budget, stupid difficult to film, and I consider it one of my favorite films of all time.

 

#1 Disney’s Robin Hood.

Oo-da-lolli! This is the gold standard by which I measure all other robin hood films on the planet.  I love the music, the color, the humor, the animation, and the voice actors. This movie is GREAT.

 

So, that’s it. Those are my three favorite films. Watch them. Their good. 🙂

 

-G

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30 Day Blog Challenge – Day 6

Okay, day 6 states that I have to post a picture of somethign that makes me happy.

I looked at that challenge and said, “This is simple. BAM! A picture of Andrea”.

 

But I realized that this is what I ALWAYS do. No, not this time.

As much as I LOVE and adore my wife and children, this time this will be about something other than my family that makes me smile. Don’t get me wrong, my family makes me happier than most anything on this earth, but since we assume that this is a given, we’ll move on to the next best option.

 What you are seeing here is a rendered version of a scene from Descent. Now, it isn’t this game in particular that I want to write about. The shot is more of an analogy. Maybe a metaphor. Possibly some other word that says it means something other than it looks like. I forget, but that’s not important.

The thing I’m trying to represent here is video games in general. I play them. I enjoy them. Some of them make me smile. Some piss me off. Some make me think. Some I just like to look at. Others I am finally begining to play.

There is so much of my life that has been affected by video games.

I have a few that top my list of favorites and those I believe I will point out in the future.

…

Well, it’s TECHNICALLY the future now from when you read those last lines, so I guess I’ll tell you about them now.

GAREN’S TOP xx FAVORITE VIDEO GAMES

 

5. Super Mario Bros. series on NES

I spent way too many summers playing this bugger. Be it with or without cheats, I enjoyed it. I played with my brothers and sisters in nearly every house I lived in growing up. This is the epitome of nostalgia in my book. LOVE IT!

4. Metroid

Metroid is one of those games where I love the premise of the game. I love the physics. I love the controls. I love the exploration and the ability to wind up in some really strange places…. but…. I never beat the game. Hell, in all reality, this game scares the ever living daylights out of me. Dunno why. But it’s still one of my favs.

3. Tribes

“Trust me, I work at Gamestop”. Worst words ever to hear. Best game that could have ever been suggested by that guy. I still think he was a tool though.

2. Warcraft Series

From RTS, to point and click, to MMO… The warcraft and Starcraft universes  make me smile. I love the lore. the storylines. the graphics. the ideas behind the game. And hey, Jaina is kinda hot. LOL. Regardless, with the amount of time invested in this series, it’s up there in the top 5 for a reason.

1. Descent

I played descent for way too many years. I still pick it up from time to time even. The game makes me sick to play. It’s scary at times. And no one I know plays because they were never able to get ansy good at it. Let’s not forget though, I have the super power known as ADD, so a lot of things like this I wind up being really good at. Take battletech for example. I’m CRAZY GOOD at that game.

But that isn’t the point. The point is that I enjoy video games, and some board games. And it is those forms of entertainment that give me the opportunity to escape the real world for a little bit, enjoy some time either alone or with others, and let my imagination run wild.

So, what is it that makes me happy? (Other than my family which is my true #1)

Video games.

Sorry, it’s true

 

-G

30 Day Blog Challenge – Day 5

Hmm, today will be a song to match my mood.

Simple… “Jump Rope”, but Blue October.

Google it. It’s great.

30 Day Blog Challenge – Day 3

3 days in.

I’m already getting tired of this. LOL.

Okay, here we go… todays topic:

Your First Love

Hmm, this one is interesting. I know that there is a difference between love and infatuation.

Very few people will know what I’m about to talk about. You should feel lucky to hear the story.

I know that I dated a number of girls growing up. Some I dated. Some I just took on a date. Others that I was infatuated with and still others I simply lusted after. (Don’t worry, I’ll try to prevent you from being uncomfortable with this)

The first girl was Marybeth Kershaw. I liked her. She was the first real girl I spent any amount of time with. Mom and Dad didn’t want me dating her so I didn’t. BUT, that was a year long fight.

next…

I actually dated a girl named Elizabeth Harmon. She was sweet. A member of the church. She was even my first kiss. I told her I loved her, but looking back, I don’t quite think it really fell into the jurisdiction of actual love. I liked her a LOT. Don’t get me wrong, but was it love? I’m sad to say, no.

After Liz there were a few girls I was friends with. Some I spent some personal time with. Even a few I kissed. But then there was “her”.

Andrea Choate.

I actually made this girl my wife. I dated her for around two years. I spent great amounts of time with her. She made me smile. Made me happy. And while my parents wanted me to have nothing to do with her because she was considered a ‘floozy’, I fought them every single step of the way.

Eventually, my mother and I came to blows on this topic and she kicked me out of the house for it. We eventually made up, but the damage had still been done.

Back in August of 2002, Andrea and I set the date to be married for October 12th. We cranked out invitations and everything. The invitation thing is a whole blog post in and of itself. I don’t think I’ll be telling that one any time soon though.

Anywho, I prevented myself from telling Andrea tha tI loved her for nearly a year while dating. That was a trick in and of itself. I had been burned a few times with girls that I liked and I did NOT want to screw this one up. So, while sitting in the car on the beach in Tracyton Washington while eating a sack of Tacos, she let it slip that she loved me. Incidentally, it was in the same place doing the same thing that we agreed to get married.

I realized at that point that I felt the same way. I loved her too.

So, there you have it. I liked girls. I dated some. I was infatuated with a few. Hell, I even lusted after a couple. BUT… I can’t honestly say that I really loved a girl until I met my wife. I don’t think even she knws that part of the story. (Well, she does now as she reads this blog)

 

A first love? Yeah, I have one. I just happened to be lucky enough to marry her.

Maybe that sheds some light on why I fight so hard to keep her.

-G

 

p.s.

I love you Andrea Anderson. Don’t ever forget that.  ❤ +1

30 Day Blog Challenge – Day 1

Allrighty, The official day 1 of the 30 day blog challenge. Today goes like this:

Day 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts.

So, with that in mind, here we go.

 

Introduce yourself:

Well, my name is Garen C. Anderson. I am 31 years old. I currently reside in Cheboygan Michigan. I am an active duty member of the US Coast Guard, the 5th armed service of the United States. I married my amazing wife Andrea Joleanne Anderson back in 2002. I have two awesome children, Hayden (8) and Lillie (4). Like my wife, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That’s right, a Mormon.

I enjoy video games, reading about history, watching most anything put out by national geographic, papercrafting, sewing, and a handful of other odd hobbies.

 

A Recent Picture of Yourself:

Hmm, a recent picture of myself. Lemme see what I got. I’ll be right back.

Okay, I’ll give you a BUNCH of them. Remember, you can click on them to see a bigger version.

Alrighty, here you go. This is MOST recent photo of me. Amazing detail, right? 

It shows the best of the best when it comes to my personality.

Let’s see if I have one with better detail of who I am.

 

Okay, this should be a bit better.No?

Hmm, let’s see if I have anything else.

 

Okay, we’re getting closer. You can at least see part of my face this time.

I’ll give it one more shot to see if I can find something decent.

Uhmmm… here we go.

yeah, this should work. I also happen to have a mustache in this picture.

I don’t like the mustache, but I point out whenever I have one in a photo.

 

Okay, lets move on to the rest of this post.

 

15 Interesting facts about me:

 

1:  Whenever I post a picture of myself on facebook, I always point out if I have a mustache or not. Dunno why I do it, but I do.

 

2: I have Attention Deficiet Disorder. It’s one of my many super powers. I don’t like calling it a disability because it actually helps me do all sorts of cool stuff that regular people can’t do.

 

3: If given the choice between a trip to the movies, and a stack of free tacos from Taco Bell, I would take the tacos. I make a lot of jokes about liking tacos, but the sad part is that I REALLY like tacos. I don’t know what it is about them. I have been known to drive two hours just to get a cheap sack of taco bell.

 

4: I replay every single one of my failures in my head on a near constant basis. From answering a question wrong in public, to making a poor choice that impacts my family, I replay them near constantly. I am very hard on myself, but no one ever sees it.

 

5: I will forgive anyone for near anything. Of everything that has happened in my life, there hasn’t been anything that I haven’t forgiven. Some really MAJOR stuff has been done to me, but I forgave it nearly moments after it was done.

 

6: I don’t have the ability to tell when people are actually being mean to me, or if they are trying to be funny. It’s just a skill I never picked up.

 

7: I have never touched an illegal drug. I couldn’t tell you what pot smells like or even looks like. Cocaine? I know it’s a powder. That’s about it. My system is clean of drugs like that.

 

8: I honestly believe that Pepsi is a superior product to Coke.

 

9: I do not like cell phones. I like having a PDA, a smart device, and access to data at ALL times… but the ability to make phone calls I can do without. I’d probably do better with a very small tablet pc.

 

10: I do not like the culture that Apple has created. The whole ‘think different’ thing pisses me off. And hipsters just drive me nuts. I’m not a biased person on a lot of things, but this one… I cannot stand. Screw apple, the Mac, iTunes, the iPhone, and the iPod. Guess I’m just stubborn about this one. Before you start asking me what I do about my massive music collection, try looking at Google Music. It’s AMAZING!

 

11: I believe that jewelry should be as essential to a girl as underwear. Sometimes more important. The little shiny baubles are nice to look at and show the girls personality as clearly as what she says.

I just bought this set for my wife. Rubies and White Saphires. See? Personality!

12: I like science fiction. From fantasy with orcs and elves, to futuristic with ships, lasers, and shields, to alternate future with power armor, and big explosions. I like the escapism of it all.

13: I have only beaten a few of the video games I have ever picked up. I think you can blame the ADD for this. The closest I ever came to beating a Zelda game was Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I was on the last boss fight when I paused it and walked away to take a phone call. I never finished it.

14: Serving people in an honest capacity makes me happy. Cleaning, providing help, offering my assistance as needed. That kind of thing. I like to help people.

15: I have a VERY difficult time with stupid people. Ignorant I deal with because that can be cured. But Stupid? You can’t fix stupid.

And with that I have handed you the three required items. An introduction, a photo, and 15 facts. Enjoy

 

30 Day Blog Challenge – Day 0

Since my wife Andrea picked up blogging again, she used an only post called “The 30 Day Blog Challenge” to get her started. Since I figured it was a good idea, I opted to pick up on it and run with it as well. The premise is very simple, I post a daily blog post according to the list below. Take a look, lots of good stuff to come. Along with my usual rants and enjoyable content.

Here we go.

Day 0: The 30 Day Challenge Explanation and Description
Day 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts
Day 2: Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3: Your first love
Day 4: Your parents
Day 5: A song to match your mood
Day 6: A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7: Favorite movies
Day 8: A place you’ve traveled to
Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend
Day 10: Something you’re afraid of
Day 11: Favorite tv shows
Day 12: Something you don’t leave the house without
Day 13: Goals
Day 14: A picture of you last year – how have you changed?
Day 15: Bible verse
Day 16: Dream house
Day 17: Something you’re looking forward to
Day 18: Favorite Place to Eat
Day 19: Something you miss
Day 20: Nicknames
Day 21: Favorite Picture of yourself ALL TIME Why?
Day 22: What’s in your purse?
Day 23: Favorite Movie
Day 24: Something you’ve learned
Day 25: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26: Your Dream Wedding
Day 27: Original Photo of the city you live in
Day 28: Something that stresses you out
Day 29: 3 Wishes
Day 30: a picture of yourself this day and 5 good things that happened since you started the challenge

Today is day 0. Tomorrow I will post day 1. I might also throw out other posts out there in addition to these on a daily basis… but we’ll see how that goes.

-G

Constant Bearing, Decreasing Range

Okay, so I have been in to the blogging thing as of late. But seriously, who doesn’t enjoy a good blog?
So, because of that I’m giving you a heads up on a few things that my next handful of posts will be relating to.
1. The thirty day challenge.
This will be 30 days worth of posts that fall along a set schedule of awesomely creative questions. It gives you a good insight to your author.

2. This, That, and Such.
This is my wife’s blog. I’ll be referencing it from time to time. There will be a post discussing her. Just an FYI.

3. More scenes from underway
Having just pulled back in to home port but with more underway time coming soon, I am planning to post more scenes from life on the ship. As soon as I transfer off this bucket, the series will end so enjoy it while it lasts.

4. Tribes
Since I’ve been playing it a bit lately, I figure I might post some screenshots or discuss the games I’ve considered picking up. Maybe, sorta, probably not. We’ll see on this one.

So, consider yourself informed.